


Cholera

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Misunderstandings, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 04:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17419130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: Neal's mom didn't listen to him and they ended up at the hospital. Parents could be so embarrassing.





	Cholera

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said:  
> Cholera -Rumbelle – comedydrama

Whale wasn’t sure what the hell was going on. When people arrived screaming and shouting at the ER he could usually work out what was needed of him rather quickly. There were none of the usual clues here, no pregnant woman in labour, no blood, no one holding a limb at an odd angle. He was at a loss. The obvious thing to do was to ask, but Mary Margaret and Mr Gold weren’t willing to stop shouting at each other long enough for him to get a question in.

Giving up on the adults he turned his attention to young Neal Nolan and Gideon Gold. The kids were stood a distance from their parents wearing the sort of mortified look only employed by ten-year-olds for embarrassing parents. Whale ambled over and nodded a greeting to the pair of them; “So, what’s going on gentleman?”

Neal rolled his eyes; “Mom thinks I’ve got cholera.”

Whale rocked back on his heels, there was no way he would have guessed that; “That doesn’t seem likely.”

“She didn’t listen. She never listens.”

Neal turned his attention to the toe of his sneaker. Before Whale could think of a question to draw him out Gideon started explaining.

“Mrs Nolan’s got us doing a project on bugs. So, we made cholera.”

Whale had a brief panic that the boys were experimenting with home chemistry sets, but then Neal pulled a pale blue and red soft toy from his pocket.

“See we looked the bacterium up online and made this for the project.”

Neal handed it over and Whale examined it; “This is very well-made and accurate. In a way your mom was right, Neal.” He gave the plushie back to Neal with a wink; “You do have cholera.”

As he’d hoped that got a laugh from the boys. The shouting from Mr Gold and Mary Margaret had stopped now. Whale glanced around and saw that Belle had arrived and was acting as the voice of reason. Then again, considering the way Belle’s eyes had just narrowed at Mary Margaret maybe she was here to join the shouting.

“Would you two like to come and see some real bacteria?”

“Yeah!”

The boys both looked towards their parents, clearly not wanting to wander off without telling them where they were going. The argument was ramping up again. Whale caught the eye of the receptionist.

“Mrs Jenkins, when they ask where their sons are, could you page me?”

“Of course, doctor.”

“Right gentlemen, let’s see what we’ve got in the lab.”

 

Belle was trying to stay calm, but Mary Margaret had managed to annoy her almost instantly.

“When I set the project about bugs, obviously I meant insects! Your son has deliberately misunderstood.”

From the way that Gold huffed at Mary Margaret’s words Belle got the impression that they had covered this already, but she wasn’t going to let the dig at Gideon go unanswered.

“Your son is working with him. And I know for a fact that Tommy and Gina are researching computer bugs. If you wanted the kids to focus solely on insects you should have made that clear from the start.”

Mary Margaret threw up her hands; “Well, if they weren’t clear on the project outline all they had to do was ask me.”

Gold snorted; “And I’m sure you would have employed the same outstanding listening skills as you did when Neal tried to explain what he meant when he said he had cholera.”

The sheer ridiculousness of the situation hit the three of them at the same time. After a moment of awkward laughter Mary Margaret sighed; “I’m sorry I jumped to the worst possibly conclusion. It was such a strange thing for Neal to say.”

“Out of context I suppose it was.”

“Cholera? Well, this is going to make the project display interesting.”


End file.
